A difference of character
by Egregrisiousity
Summary: Naruto has a different experience when he explores Konoha and so sets out on a path probably joining ANBU at some point not too far off. There will be blood, killing of enemies and general mayhem - thus the rating. No pairings planned but I might do one.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Yea I don't own stuff.

Change

In a different world Naruto did not fear death. It was a natural part of his world. At four he saw a person die for the first time. He had slipped out of the orphanage like he did every day to get away from the evil glares of the caretakers and the kids who had been told not to play with him.

The orphanage was in the poorer part of the town and just as he had passed two streets away from it he saw an ANBU masked man cut the head of a kneeling man. The words he spoke would stay in the small boys mind for years to come.

"For as an enemy of Konohagakure no sato your sentence is death."

Only when the sword the bear masked ANBU held had just separated body and head did the he see the boy in front of him. It shocked the man greatly. This was his first solo mission and a child had watched him kill.

He dropped the sword and disappeared instantly in a body flicker before he could even begin thinking of protocols leaving body and sword behind. He would later report mission success and retrieve a new sword from the armory.

Naruto meanwhile walked up to the collapsed corpse. Even as the sword was dripping blood he picked it up and held it reverently. He watched as the red substance seemed to harden and quickly wiped it off. Looking around desperately for something to hide it in he slipped of the dead man's blouse and tied it around the sword. He had never had such a possession before. It wasn't a long sword but a short kodaichi. The young boy hid the sword between his shirt and undershirt. Naruto sprinted towards his secret hiding place which was really a small clearing in a Shinobi training ground.

Sitting down Naruto started unwrapping the gleaming blade from its impromptu holster.

Unconsciously Naruto started pouring chakra through it as he stood up and started experimentally swinging it. His enhanced chakra reserves aligned to wind and so the sword cut straight through the tree that he experimentally swung it at while imitating the stance of the ANBU member.

With the enhanced cutting effect the blade cut through the wood as if it was butter. Naruto was delighted at his find. Surely he could help deal with the enemies of Konoha if all it took was such a cut. Now he just had to learn to pronounce the sentence and how to bring the enemies to their knees.

Naruto started experimenting with what felt natural to him while going through different motions with his sword.

For three hours he imagined enemies coming at him with strikes and kicks while he experimented with how he would cut down enemies coming in this or that stance. Correctly he assumed that his sword would cut through the limps as he started a habit that would follow him for years to come. Exhausted and dripping with sweat Naruto once again hid the sword behind his back and slipped back into his room. It wasn't much but no one ever came there anymore. The staff had made sure he could deal with getting dressed and managing his stuff when they found out that ANBU members checked on him at random intervals. They didn't want to incur the hokages wrath and so they spent a bit of time teaching him to avoid spending time doing it for him every day. But nor did they want the demon to influence other kids and so they had given him a small room for himself.

Naruto found that he had a much easier time learning to read and write the day after when he had spent all his excess energy waving the sword, and putting in extreme amounts of chakra though he didn't know this. Instead of being jumpy and having his mind go everywhere and nowhere he simply stayed still, listened and did what was told. They had classes from eight to twelve and Naruto kept learning the entire time. It was even interesting to him most of the time.

In the coming months he spent all the time he could sneaking out of the orphanage to practice with the sword. Somehow he knew that nothing good would come if anyone found out about the sword and so he kept it carefully to himself.

The day Naruto turned five the hokage himself came to visit to the boy. In a different world he would have come to get Naruto to stop getting into trouble when he would have explored the village and gotten his appearance known by the villagers. In this world the hokage had simply been told that the boy did well in his classes and spent hours playing outside. Even Danzo couldn't help but admit that the boy seemed to be doing well with the choice that had been made for him. Obviously the man had heard of the boy training too but he wouldn't reveal that information to anyone. No he was quite satisfied with a five year old using wind chakra and for hours at a time who would serve the village as a regular Shinobi. He wasn't stupid after all. He knew who the kid's parents were and he knew who knew. He did not want to make an open enemy of Jiraya or Kakashi. Nor did he want to force the Hokage into a position where he had to have Danzo executed.

Naruto had just exited the last class of the day. It had been an introduction to adding and detracting numbers and Naruto felt very used mentally. He was itching to go train with his sword and just as he started heading for his room he came to a stop at the sight before him.

A man was standing there in a white dress, a funny hat on his head and a pipe in his mouth. To Naruto he seemed ancient with his wrinkled face and hands. Somehow though, he kept a commanding air about him that was relaxing and sure of its authority. Naruto couldn't help but gasp as he felt the carefully suppressed energy the man was giving off. Even the ANBU members, that Naruto occasionally went by was nowhere near that level.

Sarutobi watched with interest as the boy who would have no knowledge of his position took in his attire and seemed to see so much more. If the boy could sense him at this age he would be a powerful sensor one day. Not many could feel anything at all even up close when a Kage suppressed he chakra.

"Hello Naruto-kun. I was just looking for you, how would you like to come eat with me?"

Naruto could only nod and follow the commanding presence.

"My name is Hiruzen Sarutobi and I am Hokage in this village."

Finally Naruto understood why he felt so little before the man. He was the leader of the village controlling even the ANBU.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The orphanage had taught all the kids to speak only briefly and with utmost respect to the old man.

The hokage took the boy to his own home and spent it introducing his family to the boy hoping that it would make him more comfortable in his presence. He had never wanted the jinchuriki of Konoha to be shunned or hurt. Perhaps giving him some time experiencing a family would help him. Besides the man did not want the boy to be around during the kyuubi festival. It would simply give the villagers ideas and spending the day with his family was an opportunity he didn't want to miss out on.

Asuma was there visiting after a year in the twelve fireguards and Hiruzen wanted to mend some fences.

Naruto spent the next few hours playing with a one year old Konohamaru and his mother. He felt nice to have someone who wanted to spend time with him. That it was the family of their Hokage made him feel even more special.

When the woman had to put Konohamaru to sleep Naruto searched the building for the dojo that the Hokage and his estranged son were sitting in. As he came in he saw several holders off to the side holding several wooden swords and staffs.

Forgetting who was in his presence Naruto immediately grabbed a wooden sword of the same size of his real sword. It was a little lighter but not by much as the ANBU grade swords were made of very special metal strengthened with chakra and several layers of metal during their making.

"Can we spar?" Naruto interrupted the two men while looking at the Hokage with his best puppy eyes.

Asuma and Hiruzen both broke out laughing before the Hokage picked up a staff figuring he might as well indulge the boy a little.

Asuma was given a good laugh as Naruto expertly launched his first attack actually making the old man dodge him in surprise.

The man mock growled before disarming Naruto with a single strike. Naruto let himself roll onto the floor picking up the practice sword and standing in a fluid motion.

Hiruzen started enjoying himself as he spent half an hour sparing with the kid while absently giving instructions to the boy.

Naruto took in all the corrections immediately and tried to apply them but he still didn't get a single hit in on the man.

It was funny that the time Asuma spent watching his father teaching a kid did more towards his reconciliation to the man than spending hours talking to the man. Funny perhaps that even after forty years in politics the man was still more of fighter and teacher than a politician.

This more than anything would be the thing that caused Asuma to return to Konoha seven years before he planned.

Naruto was enjoying himself even as his body was getting bruises all over. That didn't concern him really. After all even semi-deep cuts wouldn't be visible on him in just hours.

When they were finished the Hokage told him he did very well and that he could become an expert with a sword if he took up practicing it as he seemed to be a natural.

Naruto grinned and bowed before Asuma took him back to the orphanage before he strangely thanked Naruto and left.

Naruto simply wrote it off as one of those strange things adults without ANBU masks said and went to sleep. Truly no one was as cool as the masked special ops in the boys mind.

The next week the Hokage decided it was time to sign Naruto up for the academy even if he was three years younger than the other students. The boy simply had too much Shinobi in him. He decided he wouldn't mention it to the council but just go through with it. They had after all made their stances on clear enough and there was no need to ask for their opinions on the matter. It was after all well within the Hokage's jurisdiction to sign someone up for ninja training.

The director of the orphanage was surprised when a message came concerning the boy. She hadn't been given any complaints from anyone from anyone for the last year. The boy did well enough in his studies, stayed out of the way and didn't make any trouble. Most of the staff simply forgot he was there or pretended he wasn't when they had to deal with him. He never asked for anything but simply did as he was told and as she read the message that he would be attending the ninja academy by order of the Hokage she couldn't even be surprised really. Her late husband had fought in the second great Shinobi war and had once told her of fighting a jinchuriki with a whole squad of chunin. They had been lucky to get away alive. As such she wasn't surprised that the Hokage wanted that kind of power for Konoha and she felt it was best to simply tell the boy where to go and not make any fuss about it. Rumors were such harmful things after all.

As Naruto sat in a room full of students older than him he felt at ease for some reason. He sat in the back and was reading some text on the basics of being a ninja.

When the teachers came in they didn't take attendance as the teachers had done in the orphanage but simply checked that the right number of people were there, they had been shown pictures along with files of each new student. Naruto didn't speak to anyone but simply stayed quiet and listened trying to learn.

Despite his small body his secondhand clothing and his placement in the room ensured that no one gave him a second glance.

As the teacher went on about the importance of stealth and the different aspects of Shinobi life Naruto felt at ease. It was what he had trained every day. Sneaking away out of sight, keeping a bearing like he belonged somewhere, and finally know yourself and your weapons to the optimum.

As the days went on and the classes moved on to the practical application Naruto began to stand out. He didn't get the top spot in anything but despite his young age he was always in the top five in everything. His classmates respected him since they saw him at the practice fields spending hours practicing everything they went over in class. Yes things came to him quickly but he still put in the work to master it all.

Improvising in fights remained his greatest strength but the lessons in planning and strategic thinking stuck with him too.

Naruto continued to practice with his sword whenever he had time. His chakra capacity was growing every day with the seal syphoning chakra into him constantly. Only the fact that he used it all the time allowed him to remain in control.

The only subject Naruto consistently was number one in was stealth. It was really held as a big game of tag with bonus points for not getting seen before you tagged someone. It was held in a training ground and Naruto for some reason seemed to know exactly where everyone was. It kind of frustrated the teacher when he joined in and Naruto had him tagged after five minutes.

Naruto found it weird that none of the classes dealt with how to dispose of enemies but figured it would simply come later. After all the taijutsu classes did teach them how to bring enemies to their knees. They had recently gone from simply practicing punching, kicking and blocking different attacks to actually sparing. The teacher went through different combination attacks and taught them both how to switch from a neutral none threatening stance to attacking in an instant. Deception was after all the key to defeating a stronger opponent and nothing was quite as it seemed in the world of ninja. He even had them go through the different motions ways of fighting an opponent who had weapons and how to fight while you were outnumbered.

In one of these lessons Naruto found himself put against four opponents each stronger, more skilled and with greater reach than him and each with a wooden knife. He immediately started moving to avoid being encircled. Always keeping only one opponent within range he blocked a strike delivered from above towards his shoulder with the underside of his left wrist letting his hand twist slightly to grab hold of the arm, at the same time striking the persons jaw with his right hand with a regular punch. The strike ended with his hand to the top of the persons arm. Bringing it lower he grabbed on to the arm that his left still kept at bay, to not get tagged with the knife, twisting it around he took the knife and jumped to the left to not get trapped in between the three others. Naruto threw the wooden knife towards the one who had started circling around him so they could attack from both sides. They guy dodged and that knife was out of the way. Naruto jumped backwards and started circling again to keep only one attacker within his reach.

The next one to move into range held his wooden knife in a backwards grip going for slashing.

The attack went towards Naruto's chest. Naruto pulled his hands to the front of his chest as he jumped backwards avoiding the mock blade. Bring his left foot forward he twisted and brought both his arms forward to block the arm as it came back. Seconds later he punched the guy's ear and twisted the hand as he brought his arm back after the strike. Grabbing the wrist again he twisted the knife free and threw it at outside the sparring ring.

This time however he hadn't been quick enough to avoid getting one of them behind him.

Just as he started moving back from the now disarmed attacker he scanned the place behind him seeing another knife coming towards him.

Immediately Naruto brought his arm back to block harshly at the wrist and sent his right leg out in a backwards kick hitting the knee even as he trapped the knife holding arm and twisted the knife free.

The kick brought the attacker to the floor as it hit just right nearly damaging the knee.

Now only three attackers remained and only one had a knife.

Naruto kept all of them in view as he threw the knife as he started moving again.

One of the unarmed attackers approached him moving into a strike. Naruto pushed the attack aside while twisting right side forward to let the strike pass right by him. As he came in close to the attacker he bended slightly downwards and snapped his right knee to the groin of the attacker. He followed through with a jab to the neck and let the now pained and wheezing attacker fall to the ground.

The armed attacker moved right past his defeated ally and went for a forward strike with the knife.

He underestimated Naruto however as the boy kicked the hand that held the knife sending the small object flying out of the way. Naruto snapped the foot backwards before twisting to the side and hitting hard on the knee once more, leaving only one opponent to be dealt with.

The last attacker burst forward hoping to catch him off guard. Naruto simply used the same movement from before to push the attack aside and lashed out with a strike to the neck.

Naruto jumped back and scanned his surroundings before realizing he had won.

The teacher told him that he did great but that he should focus more on his surroundings while moving through techniques1.

Overall Naruto was rated as the best in his taijutsu class for the first time.

When Naruto was done for that day the Hokage shoved up just as he entered the orphanage building. Once again Naruto was invited to have dinner with the family and a good

1 The techniques that I described were all taught to me during Krav Maga lessons. So I figure that if I could learn them in half a year a school training ninjas would be capable of teaching them to kids, though they probably don't look anything like Japanese fighting styles they are what I can explain. They were the simplest for me to go with as I know that they are doable in a controlled environment, though I figure that they would hit somewhat harder with access to chakra healing – also to get the kids used to the real world of hurt. The Krav Maga lessons also teach similar ways of dealing with several opponents and I wanted to do something fun. I'm rambling aren't I? Nevermind hope you like it.


	2. Chapter 2

Graduation

Four years after entering the academy Naruto was finally getting ready to graduate. The exam was coming up and the entire class was hyped on finally getting away from the place and getting to see some real action.

Naruto had gotten two friends during his years at the place and he couldn't be happier. They were a bit weird but he who wasn't in the end. One of them also stayed at the orphanage and went by the name of Dolphin. His real name was Iruka1 and he was sort of a prankster, though gifted academically.

Naruto had met him while he was walking home to the orphanage when he first noticed the boy.

Iruka had been brooding and all kinds of alarms went off within younger boys mind. Largely the math went something like: Brooding kid = Emo kid - Must convert or kill and dispose of evidence.

So Naruto did the only thing that any rational person would do to help a fellow man who was nearing the point of no return towards the dark side.

He hit him in the back of the head shouting "You're it". It was the sink or swim test. If the subject stayed broody generally all hope was lost and so it was best to dispose of the disgraceful man. After all it was better to die and keep his soul than to live and have it drained right out of one2. Although it you got an angry response you should check for scars on the subject's wrist before proceeding with the execution.

In this case though, Iruka simply laughed and started to chase the fleeing blonde in a fast pace version of tag.

Half an hour later Iruka was exhausted and sitting on the ground panting, but still laughing, while Naruto stood in front of him grinning and thinking internally `one person saved from the path of evil´.

Naruto started going with the boy to and from the academy and generally making sure his new convert of joyfulness wouldn't backslide.

Naruto's second friend was a girl from his class by the name of Kaede Uzuki. She is quiet girl he hangs out with in the lunch breaks. When she had seen that the orphanage didn't send any lunch with him she started bringing along some extra. Naruto was a little embarrassed at the gesture but also touched. Soon they started talking about ninja stuff and playing board games. Naruto liked her and had even met her sister once.

Naruto walked into the classroom and waited for the written test to be given out.

When it came he was relieved. It turned out he knew all of it, so he filled out the answers and sat back to wait again.

The test was followed by one on kunai throwing. Naruto hadn't practiced anything fancy for that but he could hit the target consistently. He threw the ten Kunai one by one and landed each within the marked rings.

In the final test Naruto was the second last to be called in. Only Kaede had to enter after him as they were called in by alphabetically.

Doing the three basic techniques had been difficult to learn. But after a while he found that the more hours he spent practicing with the sword the easier it became to do them. When this occurred to him he simply started practicing in various states of exhaustion. At this time the techniques went off without a hitch. Each technique took him just one hand seal and a perfect transformation into the Hokage allowed scored him full marks.

Proudly he tied the new head band on and left the building.

1 I figure Iruka would have graduated around this time in cannon, don't kill me if my math is wrong though, I'm not going to change it! I like his character and I want them to interact as friends rather than making him a big brother figure.

2 No I'm not serious. Don't mean to offend anyone and if you are an emo you may want to look up the more angsty fics anyhow. I do think that doing drugs, drinking and cutting yourself are rather stupid and sad things to do though. Besides my humor is offensive to a lot of people I'd wager – get used to it.


	3. Chapter 3

Test… Wait what?

Naruto spent the next three days training and getting the mandatory registration of new ninja. Nothing special happened and he was currently heading back to the academy for the last time to be told who he team would be.

The only major thing he did during that time was go to a Shinobi store and have them make a holster he could strap onto his back for his sword while still keeping it hidden under his cloth and a few holsters to strap onto his arms and legs for Kunai. To keep them out of sight he bought a black shirt that could be opened at the places where the new holsters would be strapped onto his skin by simply pulling a string. It functioned the same way when he wanted to release his sword. He would rip away a small string and a small trigger would push the handle out just at the left side of his neck, naturally with the sharp side turning the other way. Since Naruto hadn't used any of the allowance orphans who joined the academy were given since he started he bought a bunch of Kunai too. The concealed weapons were mainly because he figured he would have to act as a civilian he wouldn't stand out with obvious weapons on him but also so that he wouldn't be without weapons if his bag was taken from him.

The teacher that shall forever remain unnamed started reading up from the list of names when the last person settled down.

"Team one will be Tanizaki Hiroki, Uzumaki Naruto and Uzuki Kaede. Your sensei will be Uzuki Yugao. Team two will be…"

Naruto turned and grinned at Kaede. He didn't know much about Hiroki but he did know that the boy was quite good at genjutsu. All three of them were high in the class rankings but not quite at the top.

When the teacher finished up at: "Good luck to all of you." Yugao was the first one to step through the door. "Team one follow me."

As the kids each got up other Jounins got in to bring along their new prospective platoons, leaving only one team to wait for three hours as a certain Scarecrow would use this year for making new traditions.

Yugao led her team towards a small clearing in the woods to the east of the village gesturing for them to sit in front of her.

"It is good to meet you." Yugao began.

"But there is just some stuff we have to get out of the way before I can be bothered to make introductions so if you would just begin attacking me I will decide whether you remain Genin or not, do go for killing blows though, I would hate to simply be crippled before my time after all."  
As no response came she frowned.

"Well begin already surely you don't want me to just fail you do you?"

As the last word came out of her mouth Naruto sprung forward drawing a Kunai from the top of his arm as he moved into a fighting stance with both hands held at a forty five degree angle forward and right shoulder forward letting him both attack and defend.

Feinting striking a forward strike with the knife he snapped it back again and delivered a kick aiming for Yugao's kidney.

Yugao however simply grabbed the leg and sent him flying back right where he came from.

As he moved through the air Naruto threw the kunai and put his left hand behind his back to signal for the other two to come at Yugao from behind and from the side.

Both Kaede and Hiroki were standing at that point and both recognized the hand signals and moved towards the points. Yugao had simply caught the Kunai at the ring and was swirling it around as the nine and twelve year olds starting going for the kill.

Kaede came from behind and sent of a series of hits and kicks started towards the general areas of spine, kidney, knees and neck.

With almost supernatural grace Yugao evaded or countered each strike with a single hand or leg block without even turning around.

At the same time Hiroki had moved to the left and started weaving a genjutsu on Yugao designed to confuse the senses. It was the most advanced that he knew and it would let the opponents think attacks came from a different angle or just slightly to one side of where it actually came. In turn it was also Hiroki's most subtle genjutsu and consequently the most like to work.

Having seen the effects of his previous attempt at subterfuge Naruto drew his sword. There was no point in letting an ace rot in the hole after all.

Steeling himself to actually use to the sword he settled into a two handed grip and started to send as much energy through his attacks as he could.

Jumping forward he started weaving through the series of attacks that the Hokage unwittingly trained him to do efficiently during their time of bonding.  
Yugao tilted her frame just enough to let the blade pass by her intending to kick the wielder back as soon as the sword was out of the way. However the genjutsu effectively concealed the thin coating of wind chakra that extended the reach of the sword just slightly. In turn this left thin cuts on her shoulder and her upper arm. The shock of the unexpected pain left instincts to take over and Yugao disappeared in a kawarimi without hand seals.

All three Genin tensed and Naruto felt her chakra in the trees behind him.

Pointing towards the left of the clearing he took point in the hunt through the trees without giving away his knowledge of the prey's location before they were close enough to make use of it.

Still high on adrenaline Hiroki and Kaede followed him in a mad dash through the thick forest. As he turned right to encircle their sensei Naruto muttered "Three o' clock a quarter of a click off. Let's go from left right and behind in two minutes." His feral grin and the hand pointing towards each person to show, who would come from where left no time for debate as he vanished towards his self-assigned position coming up behind Yugao. Hiroki had gotten the position furthest off since he was the fastest among them and Kaede would come from the other side.

The time he had allotted gave them just enough time to get in position and get their breathing down without letting coming out of the adrenaline high before they attacked.

At the same instant the three Genin threw Kunai as quick as they could towards their sensei leaving Yugao to snatch one out of the air and knock the rest away.

Naruto however paused to tie an enhanced ninja wire around a small lump of wood giving it enough weight to be thrown effectively, held onto the spool and threw it towards Kaede. She took his cue, caught it, put it through the ring of a Kunai and threw it to Hiroki who now stood in a position to use tie entrap their sensei. They passed the wire around three times before pulling on the string and letting it snap up around the legs, torso and hip of Yugao.

Yugao had wondered what the regular pauses in the three sided onslaught of weapons meant but was caught off guard by the unexpected trap.

Strangely the woman looked totally relaxed as her three Genin reeled themselves closer to her, making sure to keep the wire tight.

"Alright you pass" Yugao said grinning proudly and was promptly released.

* * *

Let me know what you think ;)


	4. Chapter 4

Wind that cuts and ties that are severed

Naruto slipped through the motions of the sword. Seeing the blood on his sensei's shoulder finally brought about the realization that he was doing something more than fencing. The sword had met no resistance, there had been no contact but the flesh was cut.

Now he had to bring it under control. As he had found with all other things related to chakra he seemed to start at the opposite end of the scale.

It wasn't a fluke either. When their sensei had told them to meet her tomorrow and left to get her injury treated and officially pass the team Naruto had gone through the battle in his mind.

When he came to the conclusion that something weird had happened Naruto had taken the sword, focused all his energy on it and swung it just to the side of a tree.

Cracks had appeared all over it and leaves had been blown of further up though there was no wind around.

When he examined the leaves he found that each had been cut perfectly in half. Sheeting the sword Naruto took a fresh leaf and attempted to replicate the feat.

As he channeled his chakra to the surface of his hand a thin cut started to appear as the leaf was split in two.

Naruto grinned and headed towards the orphanage.

As he entered the gate the guard told him to head to the matrons office.

"Ah Naruto, I was hoping you would come soon, you see now that you are a Shinobi you will be given half a year to find yourself a place to live. After all if that whole thing about of legally being declared an adult has to count it must go both ways. Perhaps you should ask Iruka and get something close by him; it's always good to have friends nearby. Head off to dinner now, and I'll have your papers ready when you come back."

Naruto nodded and left. It always seemed to go by best when he silently complied with the wishes of the staff at the place. He wasn't very attached to the place. But it had been home in a way, even if he had spent very little waking time at the place since he turned five. His first home too but like all things in life it came to an end. He figured he would get it over with soon.

After taking a dish of food Naruto spotted Iruka and headed towards his table.

"Hey Dolphin how is your team?"

"Its fine, Mizuki and Genma were always nice enough to me. Our sensei is cool too although his test sucked, we had to find him in a crazy forest filled with traps. We stayed together though so we made it through. What did Yugao have you do?"

"Oh just had to fight her. Nothing special, what are you doing about finding a place to stay?"  
"I'm moving into my parent's old place, it's a little large for me and I need to have it fixed up but it's a home."

"Got room for one more, until I find something?"

"Sure".

Naruto went back to eating at the orphanage for the last time.

As the two boys left they started talking about the interior of the house.

"So do you have a dojo set up?"

"Nah I did the library first."

Naruto got a look of abject horror on his face before turning his full attention towards the subject of building a dojo and getting his friend to reprioritize his life.

Iruka laughed when he saw the disbelief in Naruto's eyes and led Naruto towards a room he could sleep in.

Naruto was early for the meeting the next day and so started doing warm up exercises. He ran in zigzag through the trees and did pushups every now and then.

As the other team members arrived stopped and went to sit with them.

"Yo"

Kaede jumped and started pulling out kunai before relaxing as she recognized him in turn making Hiroki laugh.

As Yugao appeared she simply motioned for them to follow her. She moved steadily towards the Hokage tower and held a tiny smirk on her face as she walked towards the mission office.

Officially the ominous silence was creepy and the three Genin felt a wave of doom heading towards them for some reason.

"Ah team one I see you're the first team here today so you get a wide pick. There is trash picking, mending fishing nets, babysitting, shopping and cleaning, and oh you could get a crack at catching Tora."

The last word made Yugao's eyes light up in a strange glint you only see in people preparing to pass pointless horrors on to the next generation in an attempt to justify the humiliation and pain that they themselves went through.

"We'll take Tora Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow, passed the mission folder on to Yugao and went back to peepi… I mean making sure that safety regulations were strictly followed in the female sides of Onsens through his all-seeing crystal ball. Yes it was good to be king.

Thirty minutes later the team caught up to the nefarious fluffy hair ball.

They approached carefully fully intent on not getting the cat tied down in their first try. Naruto jumped forward while Kaede and Hiroki prepared to catch it if it tried to flee.

It was for naught though. Naruto's two team members could only watch in fascination as their younger teammate wrestled with the scratching cat before it slipped away leaving gashes on the boy's cheeks.

When the cat got out of sight they all snapped out of it before setting off to catch the cat.

An hour of tribulations and many scratches later they each flung themselves at the menace at the same time and grabbed the tail, neck and a leg respectively.

The Hokage was very amused seeing the bleeding Genin coming in with a cat, seeing their faces full of hatred assured him that they would be strong enough to face what would lie ahead. Yes a good day it was, Tsume had looked particularly hot in… I mean no accidents had occurred in the Onsen today either, truly a good day.

Team one happily passed on the fur bag to the smothering lady.

Yugao had finally stopped laughing, took in their scratched appearances and decided to take mercy on them. "Alright you can go now; you did well on catching Tora so I suppose you deserve a break."

The team caught sight of the now crying lady that came to request a team to find her precious Tora again, and promptly left in what appeared for all to the be a body flicker.

Regrouping outside the building they quickly conferred on possible options to avoid such a mission in the future.

"Alright who votes of a hunting trip and a meal featuring fried cat? That whole mess made me hungry anyways" Naruto said with a self-assured rub on his stomach.

Needless to say the vote was for from all parties and so their team would mysteriously be the last team recorded to have caught, or even seen the team.

Naruto took point again and ran towards the area that he had felt their object of wrath move towards and prepared himself to litter the cat with pointy artillery.

They came upon the cat at a stream lapping in water. Kaede was the first to release a Kunai letting the knife swirl twice before it took off the head in a single "thud".

In recognition of her great deed Naruto and Hiroki told her to simply sit down and relax while they would start a fire and prepare the cat for cooking.

They scraped off the skin and tied the meat to a stick that they balanced on two improvised poles above the fire and settled into their first real moment of team bonding.

Taking great joy in eating savagely each member sighed in contentment as they finished off the scrounge meal. With a quick agreement they decided on the alibi of having eaten out as a team as they headed home.

* * *

To clear up the ages in _this_ story:

Naruto: 9.

Kaede, Iruka, Hiruki, Genma, Mizuki, Inuzuka Hana: 12.

Neji, Tenten, Lee: 8.

Sakura, Sasuke, Shikamaru etc.: 7.

Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon and Hanabi: 4.


	5. Chapter 5

**First blood**

The next few weeks passed with little incident other than the dreadful missions.

Naruto had started begging for something more interesting after the third mission and so Yugao started them on the tree walking exercise. It took Naruto two days to get it down but it was definitely cool to walk upside down.

The money given them was however instrumental to getting started on the new dojo. Naruto had picked out a section of the first floor and started out moving everything out of the way.

Then he started to break up the floor and tear down the walls. Overall not too difficult with access to exploding tags and wind chakra. Putting in the new floor and walls that would withstand the weathering of Kunai and Shuriken was what took most money but overall he was happy with the result.

Naruto met up with his team and once again headed to the missions office. Yugao carried a different kind of smile, for once not an ominous one but it still made them wary.

"Team one requesting a c-rank mission."

Sarutobi looked a little surprised but figured he had figured that it would come soon anyways. Although he had suspected it would have been the Genin who would whine about getting one, they had done the required number of d-ranks after all even if they didn't know it yet.

"Hmm alright, we have a few different patrols, an escort mission and a few for delivering scrolls."

"Just give us a patrol somewhere within fire country."

The one they got was a month long travel that would take them through several small villages and a few of the samurai regiments. It was important after all to let the two major military divisions in touch with each other and to keep track of everything and the Shinobi village had the responsibility of making sure no groups of bandits started raiding within the country during peacetime. Asking the general population if anything was going on was simply the easiest way to keep track of them. The patrol leader then had to make the choice of either calling for backup or simply dealing with the bandits found. Generally patrols chose to deal with them unless there were more than a few low ranking missing ninja amongst the groups.

"Alright team go pack, we'll be leaving in an hour, meet me at the western gate."

Naruto ran towards Iruka's house and packed a backpack. He threw in a raincoat and some over layering for sleeping outside along with a sleeping bag and some clothes before leaving a small note saying he would be on a mission for a while.

He arrived with fifteen minutes to spare and so he repacked everything to make it fit better.

As they set out Yugao started them on tree jumping.

"Alright" she said, "this exercise is pretty much an extension of the one for tree climbing. Now you simply use chakra to fling yourself from one tree to another. Don't rely on chakra alone though or you will find yourself exhausted before long. And stay aware of your surroundings"

Naruto walked up the three in front of him and settled onto the top of a branch. Letting chakra flow from his muscles and burst out of soles he burst towards the next tree, only he overshot it and landed ten trees further off.

Kaede and Hiroki looked at him disbelievingly as they landed in a roll on the ground halfway to the nearest one.

It took them all a few hours before they got a feel for how much chakra was needed for different lengths but Yugao insisted that it would become second nature soon enough.

Three hours after they had set out they had to make halt as Kaede was exhausted having less chakra than Hiroki and far less than Naruto to sustain herself on.

Naruto had picked up a few fruits on the way when he figured that he could go far faster and for longer time than the two others he started taking breaks to gather food.

The three Genin looked at Yugao curiously as they ate together for the first time.

"So why the sudden willingness to let us do more than the distressfully dread and demeaning missions so far?" Hiroki asked with his ever accentuated eloquence.

Yugao just shrugged and took another bite of her apple.

"Alright, alright I was getting bored watching you do menial labor really." She finally relented when all three turned on the infamous puppy eyes.

Promptly the three students sighed and shook their heads and mumbled about themselves about her simply having to get away from Hayate before she throttled him for flirting with her.

Yugao feigned deafness and went back to eating.

They proceeded on their journey after half an hour of rest and were moving at speeds previously unattainable for the inexperienced Genin.

They came to a stop two hours later and started making ready for the night. They were only a mile away from the edge of the forest zone so Yugao figured that it would be a good place to camp without being in the open and still be able to get out of there tomorrow. Even Naruto was tired at this point so Yugao took the first watch and the Genin settled into sleep.

The week following all they saw was small villages and roads. Running was quite tedious in the long run as Naruto found but he enjoyed seeing new places.

They were on the road to a big settlement with Yugao in front and no one had been talking for a while.

Naruto noticed five weak chakra signatures up ahead but thought nothing of it. Being around civilians so much on this trip had somewhat dampened his paranoia.

This changed however as the men jumped out of their hiding places to surround them.

Before they could even speak Naruto drew a Kunai from his arm holder and threw it in a fluid motion at towards the head of the person behind him. Not pausing to see if his aim was true he drew his sword and beheaded the person next to him. Unknowingly he had cut the other man's battle roar short in his throat as the Kunai went into his open mouth and back of the brain.

As he scanned his surroundings as he had been taught he found the other bandits knocked out and tied up by his teammates.

"So I guess we have to drag them to town, so troublesome." Naruto muttered making Kaede giggle as his adrenaline levels went down and he started to process what had just happened.

Yugao sighed as she saw the dead low lives and picked up one of the bandits.

"Hiroki and Naruto take one each and we'll turn them over to the authorities."

Naruto grumbled and picked up the light one. "Let's go then, the dead can bury their dead." Naruto said sagely and started walking. This was what he had signed up for. To deal with those that dared to disturb the sanctity of Konoha.

* * *

Muhaha Naruto has killed. Hope to be out with more soon.


End file.
